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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441609">Suddenly I see</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharking/pseuds/Sharking'>Sharking</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Blood, The moriyamas suck, aged up fic, andreil are in love, andrew centric, doctor Aaron, neil ran but he’s back</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:48:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,260</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharking/pseuds/Sharking</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>7 years ago Neil had ran when Andrew told him to stay. </p><p>When Neil shows up at his apartment dripping blood Andrew wishes he’d have stayed missing (not really).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>178</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Suddenly I see</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Been a while, hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew's life, minus the occasional sporadic visits from his cousin, had become extremely predictable.  </p><p> </p><p>He would go to work everyday, go the gym afterwards, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays he would spar with Renee. Although occasionally the only "sparring" either of them would do was wrestling a too-big hunk of cake into their mouths. </p><p>He'd go to therapy on Friday's and once a month (or more upon request) Aaron would join him.</p><p>Andrew knew all of this. </p><p>He kept a big whiteboard calendar on his desk and every week's schedule looked the same. He didn't mind the monotony the way an average person might. </p><p>So much of Andrew's life had been unpredictable. There was so much uncertainty when he was young that now he clutched onto the normality with a death grip. The same way he held Aaron too tightly when they'd first met. </p><p>He'd been so foolish. So desperate to keep this new family. He'd been angry at anything and anyone that threatened to take his family from him. </p><p> </p><p>There wasn't a "step" or a "foster" attached to Nicky and Aaron. They were his flesh and blood. They were a family without contingencies. </p><p>The first Andrew had ever had.</p><p> </p><p>He'd been so determined not to lose them that he may have choked them in his grip.</p><p>It makes Andrew feel stupid now so he doesn't think about it. Tries his hardest not to while he stares at Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. All perfectly the same, from row to column. </p><p>Andrew's new life was predictable, just the way he liked it. </p><p> </p><p>-<br/>
 </p><p> </p><p>It was just after 7 am one Sunday when a loud knocking came spiking through Andrew's dreams.</p><p> He’d found himself waking up softer these days, but that was only when he allowed himself to shake off sleep naturally and in his own time. </p><p>This knocking brought him back to the fear he used to wake up with everyday. </p><p>It was unsettling. Checking his phone to see no message from Nicky only heightened that unease.</p><p>Nicky always texted. </p><p>He resisted the urge to pull his knives out. He'd hidden them in his closet. His arm bands sat empty now but all the progress he'd made was fading quick. Old habits and paranoia creeped its way back around him. </p><p>Another set of knocks, frantic knocks, lots very quickly. </p><p>Andrew shrugged on a hoodie and approached the door to his apartment. </p><p>The hallway seemed to stretch as he stepped forward. The door seemed impossibly far away. </p><p>When he swung it open there was a figure standing in the doorway.</p><p>He leaned heavily against the door frame and was clutching one shoulder tightly. His breath was a little ragged, he dripped blood on Andrew's hard wood floors, he chuckled a self deprecating little laugh that Andrew wasn't sure he'd ever hear again.</p><p>“Hey Andrew. Long time no see huh?" </p><p> </p><p>- </p><p> </p><p>This hadn't been a part of his plan. </p><p>“Neil."</p><p>Andrew had made a lot of progress since he'd last seen Neil. He and Aaron were talking again. Andrew had a suit picked out for his brothers wedding. It hung in his closet right above a box filled with knives. </p><p>The Andrew that had known Neil didn't hesitate to shove people against walls with a blade to their throat. </p><p>The Andrew Neil knew had a smile that pulled against his will and a cackle of a laugh that was never genuine. </p><p>The Andrew Neil knew hated him.</p><p>And yet here he was, a little over seven years later, bleeding on his welcome mat. </p><p>“I didn't have anywhere else to go."</p><p>It seemed like the Neil that Andrew knew hadn't changed one bit.</p><p>“Come in."</p><p>As Neil leaned against the wall for support he left a nasty streak. He was bleeding a lot. Maybe, Andrew thought, he should FaceTime Aaron for advice.</p><p>Andrew walked towards the bathroom and waited until Neil had hobbled his way in before pushing the boy onto the toilet seat. </p><p>“No hospitals, pl-" He stopped himself. Seemingly remembering where he was and who he was with.</p><p>Andrew had gotten better, but that was one area he didn't know if he'd ever improve. </p><p>"I'm gonna call Aaron, he's almost done with his residency program."</p><p>"So he didn't cut and run with that cheerleader?"</p><p>"Worse, he proposed."</p><p>Neil laughed and it hurt Andrew deeply. He missed this stupid boy. Even though he looked like someone ran him over, and chances are someone had tried. </p><p>Andrew pulled out his phone and it rang a few times before a grumpy and disheveled Aaron answered. </p><p>"I need your help." He seemed to shake his grogginess immediately.</p><p>“Andrew are you okay?" Instead of responding he handed the phone to Neil and said, "I'm grabbing supplies, you're gonna have to walk me through this."</p><p>Walking out of the bathroom and towards the closet on the opposite side of the apartment gave Andrew a second to breath. </p><p>This was Neil. </p><p>In his home.</p><p>This was the boy who had kissed him, who respected every boundary, who understood him, who ran.</p><p>Taking only a second to seethe in anger he closed his eyes and breathed. By the time he'd opened them Andrew had pushed it into a corner of his mind to deal with later. </p><p>Right now a boy was bleeding out in his bathroom. </p><p>Aaron and Neil were talking somewhat calmly when Andrew returned. Considering how much they'd disliked each other at Palmetto it was a small miracle neither had hung up.</p><p> Neil had his shirt off and was applying pressure to a gash in his side. Aaron was asking him questions, likely trying to assess any head trauma.</p><p> “He's back.", Neil said cutting of Aaron's next thought.</p><p>"Okay Andrew the biggest things are his side and a cut on his leg. The other things are mostly superficial."</p><p>Andrew sat on the side of the tub facing Neil,  "Just tell me what I need to do."</p><p>And that's how they spent the next 45 minutes. Andrew sewed Neil up and dressed his wounds. Once the last cut had been closed up Aaron sighed heavily, "Call me tomorrow with any updates and you'll have to redress those wounds every day."</p><p>Andrew hung up. </p><p>“You're staying."</p><p>The last time he’d told Neil that he didn’t see the other for seven years. Fuck.</p><p>“I can't keep running."</p><p>He shoved everything away in clearly labeled boxes. He’d get to them, just not right now.</p><p>Andrew stood up and walked to the whiteboard in his room. He grabbed it and marched back past the bathroom and into the living room with it. </p><p>Neil followed slowly.</p><p>He set down the heavy board on the kitchen counter and pulled out an orange marker the same color as Neil's hair. He hated the coincidence and wasn't sure it was one in the first place.</p><p>Every single day Andrew added, "redress wounds".</p><p>Neil was a part of his routine now. </p><p>Andrew would have a lot to talk about with Bee tomorrow but for now, "I'm going to work and then I have plans with Renee."</p><p>“Oh okay."</p><p>"Don't do anything stupid, we'll get pizza tonight. And don't eat all my ice cream."</p><p>“How do you not have diabetes yet?"</p><p>“Same way you're not dead, stupid luck."</p><p>He grabbed his coat and saluted to the broken boy he'd lost and then found.</p><p>Andrew's life, minus the occasional sporadic visits from his cousin, had become extremely predictable. And in less then an hour he'd been flung back to unpredictability.</p><p>He wished he hadn’t missed it so much.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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